DeadEarth: Mr. 44 Magnum by Michael Anthony Read Free Book Online

every three days. It didn’t matter if we were
sleeping or keeping watch. Age, race, gender—” He shook his head.
“We were taken at random.
    “We packed up camp and traveled deeper into
the woods. We had a guy—a professional tracker—circle back to make
sure we weren’t being followed. But like clockwork, the third day
came around and someone disappeared.
    “With four people gone and the rest of us in
a panic, we moved camp again, set traps, and—when the third night
came—we sat in a circle and watched each other’s back.” Daniel
glanced at his mom who was staring at the forest floor in a
daze.
    “Did you find out who was taking your
people?” Shade asked.
    Daniel waited a long moment before shaking
his head. “My sister, Hannah…” He looked up at Shade and Rikka. “I
know this is going to sound crazy, but I swear to you, one second
she was there with over a dozen pair of eyes watching her, and the
next, she was gone.”
    Rikka’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean
gone? Like she disappeared into thin air?”
    “We were holding hands,” Jen said, her voice
barely a whisper. “And then we weren’t. I wouldn’t have believed it
if I hadn’t seen it. Felt it…”
    “We started out with twenty-two people in our
group. Now we’re down to six. Every three days, someone disappears.
It doesn’t matter what we do. It doesn’t matter what we don’t do.
In eighteen days, the rest of us are going to be gone, and there’s
nothing anyone can do about it.”
     

Chapter 6: “To the deepest part of me, I
truly hate you.”

    Jen and Daniel didn’t return the book bags
until they reached the end of the driveway. Still maintaining a
five foot buffer between the sisters, they tossed the bags to Shade
and Rikka and sent them on their way.
    “If your mom, dad, and sister show up, I’ll
let them know you went east,” Jen offered. “Stay off main roads and
join up with a group if you can. Despite our situation, there is
safety in numbers.”
    Daniel nodded in agreement. “Good luck.”
    At those words, a sharp crack of thunder
filled the air, followed by a heavy downpour. Shade, Rikka, Jen,
and Daniel were soaked in an instant.
    “Same to you,” Rikka yelled over the rain as
she slung the book bag’s strap over her shoulder and turned down
the road adjacent to the driveway.
    Shade nodded her goodbyes as she wiped soggy
curls out of her eyes. In attempts to keep the grunt of the rain
from pelting her hair (which never cooperated when it was wet), she
lifted the book bag over her head to make a makeshift umbrella. It
didn’t work quite as well as she hoped. Her hair fell back into her
face, leaving her blind until she brushed it to the side again.
    The rain seemed to grow heavier with each
step they took. Between the torrent and the thick darkness, it was
nearly impossible to see, even with the flashlight Rikka found in
her pack. It was also impossible to tell if Daniel and Jen were
following them to make sure they weren’t going to double back. So
they kept trudging forward, waiting for a sufficient amount of time
to pass before they could return for Lou.
    Frustrated with the back and forth game she
played with her wet locks (that long ago earned the name The
Windshield Wiper Game) it took the better part of a half hour for
her to realize Rikka hadn’t so much as glanced in her general
direction.
    To break the silence, Shade growled. “I’d
kill for a hair tie right now.”
    Rikka looked at her and scowled. “If you had
any idea of what I wanted to do to you right now, a hair tie would
be the least of your worries.”
    Shade huffed as she came to a halt. “Fine
then, Rikka,” she said. “Let’s hear it.”
    Rikka responded with a venomous glare. “Fuck
off.”
    “Fine, I’ll do it for you. ‘What the fuck
were you thinking, Shade? Are you trying to be stupid, or does it
come natural? We had a good thing going until you went and fucked
it up.’” Shade had heard those words from her